


Sight Unseen

by DarkJediQueen



Series: Sterek Week 2020 [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, One-Shot, Soulmates, Sterek Week 2020, stereksoulmate, sterekweek2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27243403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: The world was defined by soulmates, so when one was rejected, it was never good. Stiles had to learn that first hand when he was sixteen and his soulmate rejected him sight unseen.
Relationships: Stiles Stilinski/Derek Hale
Series: Sterek Week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1986134
Comments: 22
Kudos: 340





	Sight Unseen

**Author's Note:**

> **Year** : Future  
>  **Spoilers** : Everything  
>  **Notes** : For Sterek Week 2020 October 28th Prompt of Soulmate. This is a completed One-shot. There will be no more written in the universe.  
>  **Beta** : ScarsLikeVelvet

Stiles looked down at his arm that was still blank after nearly five years. He sighed and wondered what it meant. He looked around at the classroom and tried to focus on anyone who was in there that wasn't an idiot. He was nearly done with his undergraduate degree and was happy to be moving on. He opened up his book as the professor entered the room. Most of the kids in there hated him since he kept the grading curve up at the top. It was something of a bit of pride for him in that. He was heading to law school next, and that couldn't be done any quicker than three years, but he had already been accepted into Stanford for that and was happy to be getting the hell out of Beacon Hills. Beacon University was all well and good, but it was too close to home and too close to the fucking kids who made fun of him.

The blank arm that he had was more than enough of an indication that his soulmate wanted nothing to do with him. So Stiles was going to become a kick-ass lawyer and be the best man he could be, despite how looked down on people like he were. Stiles looked to the side to see the girl next to him, drawing on her arm like she did every single class. Her soulmate drew back as well, adding to the design. He scoffed, and she looked up at him and glared. It was a daily ritual between them.

"Today, we are going to be going over a few cases that have made headlines lately and how you would handle them," the professor said as he brought up the projection of his laptop to show the first article.

Stiles made notes on it and smiled as he saw his father's picture front and center. It was from the newest case that his father had solved before the FBI had been able to get a handle on it. It wasn't like the FBI was not doing their job but having an in with things helped his father stay relevant, and cracking cases was easy when one of the deputies was able to smell out where the drugs were hidden or the guns, or whatever bit of evidence they were looking for. Though, Stiles wasn't supposed to know that Deputy Hale was a Werewolf. Noah didn't even know that Stiles knew. Stiles kept that to himself.

The class was boring as hell since Stiles was never called on, even if he was the only one with his hand up. He had given up that in the first week of class. He was a masochist in some ways, but making his arm hurt by having it up all class long wasn't his preferred method. No, his preferred method was walking around with his arm free so that people could see how blank it was instead of his soulmate talking to him. There was the assumption that his soulmate was dead, which had gotten him a few pitying looks when he was sixteen, but then one day, a phone number had appeared on his arm. He had thought it was his soulmate finally turning sixteen. Stiles had dialed it and then got the shock of a lifetime when he found it was a college girl's number, and she was waxing poetic about the guy she thought that Stiles was. She had then gone on about how, despite having a soulmate, the guy fucked every girl who agreed to have sex with him. After that, Stiles had tried to talk to him, writing things down. The only thing he had ever gotten in response was that Stiles' soulmate wasn't anything but straight and wanted nothing to do with Stiles.

Since then, there had been nothing on Stiles' arm. Being a lawyer was one of the few professions that took those whose soulmate rejected them with open arms. Yet the professors at Beacon University were all ones who looked down on Stiles for having a soulmate that didn't want him. It wasn't like Stiles knew anything about his soulmate. He wasn't sure if the guy was even alive anymore. There was nothing on his arm, ever. He could have sailed through college without revealing it, but there were enough people who went here that knew, and it hadn't taken long for everyone to know. So he had just embraced it.

"Does anyone know the rate of Soulmate Rejection?" the professor asked.

Stiles kept his arm down even though he knew the answer. He looked down at his notes and debated how long it would take him to finish out all of the required reading for the class that night. He had nothing to do, really. His father was working, and it wasn't like anyone hung out with him. He had one friend his freshman year, but then even Scott left him behind after finding out that his soulmate wanted nothing to do with him. Stiles knew that there were those who looked down at someone like Stiles.

It was like Stiles was the one who was damaged, but it was strange as hell, considering that Stiles would have taken the guy in a moment. There was no real fault. There were soulmate couples who met too soon, and their lives were hell. Then when they met again years later, they were perfect for each other. Sometimes the way that the world was just getting smaller and more advanced, it meant people met way too early. Stiles loved his life without his soulmate. He was perfectly content to deal with anything and everything that he could without having to check in with anyone.

Stiles' parents were deep in love when they met, and it was only after they met that they figured out that they were each other's soulmates. It had been a fairy tale, but Stiles had been told from a young age by his mother that not everyone got that happy ending. It was why the laws had advanced that allowed people who were not soulmates to marry each other. Which made things better for Stiles; he could marry anyone that he wanted. There were those who never knew their soulmate, whose arms remained blank for decades. It was just a hell of a lot easier to live his life with how the laws had been changed to make it easier. Stiles wanted to keep that kind of thing going, which was why he was taking two paths for law school. It would hopefully keep him entertained.

* * *

"Mister Stilinski, please," the judge said as he relaxed in his chair.

"Sir, you are the one who allowed this to be entered into evidence, and since I was not given it in discovery, I will take my time to read it over now unless you want to actually take that short recess so that I can give it my full attention and the lovely jury can take a little breather."

"Fine," the judge said.

Stiles relaxed in his chair, and he settled in for the jury leaving, and then his client was being taken back to his cell in the building for the time being. Stiles would have time to go and see him if he needed it. He had only read a little of this, and he was pretty sure that it was going to help him more than it was going to help the prosecutors.

"Stiles," Peter Hale said as he stood up when it was time for Stiles and them to leave the courtroom.

"Mister Hale, what can I do for you?" Stiles asked

"Oh, nothing. I like to come and see how you rule the courtroom on occasion. It's nearly lunch, and the judge dismissed for lunch, and a little added time, so I thought that we could look at this together and then get a meal in."

"Sure. Normally while in Beacon Hills, I would eat with my father but considering he worked this case, it's gonna be better that I don't."

"He's okay with you on this side of the court?" Peter asked.

"No. He's never been, but he at least lets me choose what I want to do with my life." Stiles knew that many couldn't understand why Stiles had chosen this side of the law, but after seeing how many people nearly went to jail for crimes that they didn't commit, Stiles had chosen to make sure that fewer did. It was much better that way. Peter had hired him straight out of law school and made sure that he studied for the bar exam, and then he was working there. Peter knew that Stiles wouldn't take anyone who was actually guilty of a crime unless they were unfairly being railroaded into a bigger sentence for small crimes. Peter gladly took the ones that were guilty and tried to get them off. Peter had a good win-loss ratio, but Stiles figured that only took cases that he wanted. He didn't work with the man much at all.

Lunch went by quickly, and between him and Peter looking at the paperwork, Stiles found what he needed to sink the Prosecutors case. Well, he already had enough to sink it. Still, the jury finding out that the prosecutors' office was the ones who had not even realized what they had, it would be easy to show that the Sheriff's department was being led around by a very skilled manipulator. This case was being brought to court by the DA without the Sheriff's department actually thinking that Nigel had actually done the crime.

The afternoon stint in the courtroom had Stiles coming out on top while the DA looked like a child. Stiles took Nigel's case just because his father didn't like how the DA was railroading Nigel.

"Think you are hot stuff, don't you?" Deputy Hale asked as he stopped in front of where Stiles was standing and waiting for the firm's car to come and get him. Peter was gone already, not having stayed as long as Stiles had after the courtroom was released after the not guilty verdict.

"Can I help you?" Stiles asked.

"You think that Nigel didn't do it?"

"That doesn't really matter. The facts weren't there for him to be convicted. The DA handed me all that I needed to prove that there wasn't enough evidence to prove he did it."

Hale growled at Stiles and stalked off in the other direction. Stiles shook his head and looked back down at the tablet that he had loaded to sync his work files. He brought up what he needed for the next case that he was working on but kept Nigel's file loaded, and he added it to the other files that he had. The next case he had was pretty open and shut. The guy had done it, but the DA was going for the highest sentence for a crime of passion with no violence. It was horrible.

Stiles stuck that file into a different folder. He had several different folders that he was putting different files into. There was something going on in Beacon county, and Stiles didn't like it.

* * *

"Oh fucking hell," Stiles said as he looked at his board that had all of the crimes that many had been put onto people who had not done them. There was one of the men and women he had saved from being thrown in jail for longer than they should be. It was so easy to see now. How it was scattered around, but it wasn't nearly as random as it was made out to be.

Stiles grabbed his desk phone and dialed Peter's office number.

"You are supposed to be at home."

"So are you. My office now. I've found the white whale." Stiles hung up and waited for Peter to get to him. He was just down the hall. It took but two minutes for him to come into Stiles' office. He stopped and looked at the boards that had had out.

"Well, I see exactly where there is a large space, and that screams one thing to me."

"Yes. Tell my father that the Argents are the main issue it seems with everything that is wrong in Beacon County, and it can be laid to rest at the manor house of Gerard."

"I will. I will have dinner with him shortly. Your father asked last time if you have talked to your soulmate?" Peter asked.

"No. I've not heard a word since I was seventeen. I doubt he thinks of me. I don't think of him much at all. Do you think that he thinks of me?"

"I cannot understand someone who doesn't want to at least meet the person that fate thinks is perfect for you. I never understood it, really. I would have killed someone to have met mine for more than the few words we said before he died."

"He was an Argent, wasn't he? Killed in a hunting accident that you think wasn't?" Stiles asked.

"Yes." Peter sounded pissed off.

Stiles understood that. He hadn't asked about Peter's soulmate much. It was part of why Noah and he did so well together. Stiles wasn't sure if he would ever settle down with Stiles' father or not, but Stiles didn't care either way on that.

"Well, I might have just cracked taking them out."

"Good."

* * *

Stiles looked at Derek Hale, who was standing on the other side of the room. It was an office party, but that meant all of the Hales were invited. It was a thing. Stiles' father was even there somewhere. Stiles had lost track of him and Peter an hour before. Finding them was not a priority for anyone at the party. Peter's office would probably be cleaned well before anyone went in there again.

Derek looked like he was there under pain of death. It was like good things pissed him off.

"What are you doing?" one of the interns asked.

"Debating how much alcohol I can drink before I end up pole dancing again," Stiles said.

"What?" the intern asked.

"What?" Stiles asked back.

The intern huffed and left Stiles alone, which was part of the whole point of the answer that Stiles had given him. Stiles laughed as the intern kept looking back at him as he walked away. Stiles walked over to where the punch table was and grabbed the spoon for the punch that didn't have alcohol in it. He filled up his cup again and heard someone coming up behind him. Stiles stepped to the side and slipped away to give the person a chance to get to the punch.

"Do you enjoy making the interns think you are crazy?" Derek asked.

Stiles turned to look at him. Derek was standing close by. Closer than he had gotten in a very long time. Derek had a soulmate, but unlike Stiles, no one looked down on him for not being with his soulmate. It was like people thought there was something wrong with Stiles even though his soulmate never once tried to get to know him.

"It makes them leave me alone when I otherwise wouldn't be able to beat them off with a stick. It's that, or I ramble on about nonsense things to get them away from me. Besides, I have pole danced before. I actually took a class on dancing in college and learned how to do it. It's quite harder to do than most think. Why do you care what I do to the interns?"

"Well, a few are more scared of you than they are of my uncle. I didn't think that was possible."

"Most of them are scared of me, mainly because of the soulmate rejection thing."

"What?" Derek asked.

"How can you not know?" Stiles asked.

"I don't listen to gossip, and my uncle only talks about the things that matter with you."

"I was rejected by my soulmate the year I turned sixteen. He never spoke to me."

"And yet you know it's a he?"

"Though something that I kind of wish had never happened. I was rejected after that. He's quite an asshole and a womanizer at that."

"Womanizer?"

"I found out from someone else that he slept with many of the girls at his college campus."

"And how did you find that out?" Derek asked. He waved them toward a small alcove where no one would be able to get close enough to listen to them.

"I thought that my soulmate had given me their number, so I called it. It seems though that his previous night's conquest had written her number on his arm. I called, she thought I was him until she found out. Then she told me that he knew he had a soulmate and still fucked all of the ladies on campus. I heard one thing from him that he was straight and that he wanted nothing to do with me." Stiles looked at Derek, who was looking at him like he was disgusted by what Stiles said.

"Yeah, it's part of why I am working here. There are few degrees open to those who have been rejected by their soulmate."

"How did this become knowledge?"

"I had a friend, and he accidentally let it slip. He tended to be loose of lips. He stood by me, but in the end, the time that I graduated high school, I had no one but my father."

"Excuse me," Derek said. He left in a rush.

Stiles shook his head and looked toward where Peter was holding court talking to a few of the other staffers. Stiles walked over to join them.

Later that night, Stiles was getting ready for bed when he looked at his arm.

 _I'm sorry_ was written there.

Stiles scoffed and debated answering by telling him it was too little, too late. That would mean engaging. He had engaged enough. He had poured out his heart to his soulmate when he had turned sixteen. Had thought at first that it meant that his soulmate wasn't of age to have it yet, the ability to respond, but it had just been that he had not cared to.

Grabbing a long sleeves shirt, Stiles put it on, and he ignored the words that he could see through it. The shirt wasn't thick enough to not show the black lines on his skin. He cared little for it as well. He shoved his arm under his pillow and ignored it.

* * *

"You usually take off your suit jacket in your office," Peter said as he came to sit down in front of Stiles.

"I've just not thought about it," Stiles said. He wrote down his notes on the case he was going to be working on next.

"I have not seen you with short sleeves in months. In fact, nor has your father. Stiles."

Stiles sighed and laid down his pen before looking up at Peter. "Why must you push into my life?"

"Your father is worried about you. I am worried. You've stopped coming around to dinner, and he knows that it's not work-related like you say."

Stiles leaned back in his chair and looked at Peter. He did not think that Peter would hate him for his soulmate, finally deciding that he was worth knowing. Or at least attempting to know. Stiles took off his suit jacket, and his white shirt underneath showed the latest from his soulmate.

"The night of the party, my soulmate told me that he was sorry. He's been writing to me near daily. He spoke of his own internalized homophobia. How he spent his college years fucking everything that moved and presented as a woman. How he was unsure how to say the words that he was sorry about how he had treated me when I was but sixteen."

"I see. And so you don't want anyone to see the words."

"I don't know how to take the words. He leaves them there all day long."

"What have you said back to him."

"Nothing. I don't know what to say to him. I don't know that I could forgive him."

"And there is something that is only between the two of you, and you know that I hate his guts. Yet, would you be able to live without trying to see what he wants?"

"He gave me his phone number, but I've not texted or called him. It's a Beacon Hills area code, Peter."

"So he lives here. He..." Peter stopped and huffed. He unbuttoned his waistcoat and relaxed into the chair. "There are only a few who have lived under a rock that doesn't know the story of you. So I would assume that this guy didn't know or didn't care."

"He was in college. He might not even have heard about me until after he came back. I have never told him where I am. If I call him, he will know."

"Your arm has fresh writing." Peter pointed.

Stiles looked down to where his arm was, and he could see that there was indeed fresh writing. It looked different than the other had. Stiles undid the buttons at the cuffs and pushed it up. Peter gasped, and Stiles realized why after a few seconds.

"He knows exactly who you are. How many know your name?"

"Very few. I can count the number on the one hand, and all of them I know are not my soulmate. So that means that it's someone else, and I've done or said something to let them know that they are my soulmate."

Stiles looked at the words again. _Mieczyslaw, please, text me. Please let me earn your forgiveness._

"What do you want to do?" Peter asked.

"I don't know." Stiles picked up his phone, opened up where he had started, and deleted many texts toward his soulmate.

"Go home. Deal with this alone. You have no court dates this week, and anything that does pop up, I will handle. I have your notes on cases, and I will deal."

"No, I'm fine." Stiles picked up his desk phone and called the number. He put the phone on speaker. He gave no care for what Peter heard.

"Uncle, it's a bit early in the day for calling and griping, isn't it?"

"Derek?" Peter asked.

"You called me," Derek said.

"Actually, I called you," Stiles said.

"Who is this?" Derek asked.

Stiles reached over and hung up. "No wonder he looked shocked and disgusted at the party. I think I will take you up on the offer to take the week."

"Yes." Peter looked like he had seen a ghost.

"Do me a favor and do not tell my father. He hates my soulmate with a passion, and I don't want him taking it out on Derek. He loves Derek. He wants to see about him running for Sheriff when he's ready to retire. Parrish doesn't want it."

"I will keep it to myself, though I will not keep what he has done from his mother. She raised him better than that, and no matter his internal struggles, he should have never treated you that way." Peter stood and left Stiles' office.

Stiles heard him call down that no one was to disturb Stiles and that Derek wasn't allowed in the building at all. Stiles packed up the work that he wanted to take with him to get everything ready for his court date on Monday. It would be enough to keep busy over the rest of the week and the weekend.

Before he left, Stiles placed an order of groceries to be dropped off at his house as soon as possible. He would have the time and patience to make a good bit of his meals from scratch. He loved cooking, a habit he picked up in college once he was in his own place.

The house was just as empty as it had been when Stiles had moved in. Small enough for him to not have too much space, Stiles had been happy with only his father and Peter. He had few friends and none that he trusted to have in his own place. No one liked him, and he was happy with that.

Stiles picked up his house phone and dialed the number that he knew by heart.

"Hello," Derek said.

"I didn't know it was you," Stiles said.

"No, I had hoped that by the time that you found out that it was me, I would have given you leave to understand my side. I can do nothing but beg forgiveness."

"Write it in a letter and mail it to me. I am sure that you have my address."

"Let me deliver it on my own," Derek begged.

"Why?"

"I feel as if I should do that, not leave it to be handled by strangers. I don't mind leaving it on your doorstep."

"You...hurt me a great deal a long time ago, but I've not thought about you in years. Not in a way that means anything."

"And I understand that. Even if all I get is forgiveness, I will be happy."

"You want nothing more?"

"Want? I want a lot of things, but I understand that things will be changed greatly." 

Stiles was happy that Derek was at least understanding that things might never be anywhere close to what he wanted. Stiles wasn't going to coddle him and let him know that everything was fine. Derek's rejection of him had defined the path he had taken with his life. 

"I want to tell you one thing in person," Derek said.

"Like right now?"

"No, not right now, at some point soon. It doesn't have to be anything big, grabbing coffee and talking in the park or something. Just a little privacy, so not a restaurant or something."

"I have the week off of work. How about Friday afternoon. That should be long enough for you to write me a letter and then drop it off so that I can read it. Then we can meet and discuss this topic." 

"I'm sorry," Derek said.

"I know you are."

"I don't expect forgiveness at all, Stiles. I hope, but I know that things can be horrible, and there is no way to fix things. I just want the chance. I want to be able to say that I did my best after doing the worst thing in the world. Just please, let me explain things."

"I will. I promise." 

* * *

Stiles rolled his coffee cup between his hands, looking around the park. It was colder out than he expected, but he wasn't too cold yet. He wasn't in an area of the park that had kids in it. It was more just walking paths, and that was about it. He looked around for Derek again. Derek was coming right from work so he could be late. Stiles knew well what kinds of things could happen with that. He had lived with his father for long enough that he would never get upset on dates being late because of work. 

"Sorry," Derek said as he came up behind Stiles, startling him.

"It's fine. Your coffee's probably cold, but I doubt you really mind that," Stiles said.

Derek picked up his cup and sat down. He took a sip and shrugged. "Warmer than most coffee I drink. How was your day?" Derek asked.

"Pretty good. Court ran long this morning, so I missed lunch with your uncle. I ended up getting food at the diner close to the courthouse. It wasn't horrible, but I won't eat there unless something like this happens again. We had a very short recess, and I needed to talk with my client."

"How is all of that going without the Argents setting up a bunch of people to take the fall for their crimes?"

"I have a lot fewer cases. I'm just glad the Argents are all in jail, and everything is getting back to normal."

"I saw the article on it. Gerard was crazy. Setting everything up to try and pin it all on my Mom and Dad, possibly Uncle Peter. All because you thought there were too many cases that were weird."

"I guess Peter told you all about it?" Stiles asked. 

"Yes, he was quite happy about it. The firm's reputation went up. Criminal cases outside of the ones you do are so less than the rest of the items that the firm handles that it was a big boost. It's gonna be good for the reputation as well. Yours got a big one."

"Yeah, Peter's talking about making me a partner. I have no clue if I want that or not."

"Don't you like what you do?"

"Oh, I do, but partner means doing a lot more work. I just don't know if I want that right now."

"Ah." Derek looked down at his cup of coffee. He was at least out of his work uniform and therefore was a lot less intimidating. Well, to people who weren't him. He had stopped being intimated by uniforms like that when he was a kid. 

"So you said you wanted to ask me a question, in person." Stiles knew that Derek was worried about something. They had met like this over the last six months enough to know how Derek acted when he was worried. 

"I did, and I do; I just don't know how to ask."

"Well, the best thing is just to ask. You'll never know if you don't ask."

"No, I get that, but...I'm afraid."

"And what are you afraid of?"

"You." 

"I mean, I'm not exactly built like you, but I do know how to take people out, but you really don't need to worry about that." 

Derek laughed, which was what Stiles had been going for. He exhaled and looked at Stiles again before he nodded his head, looking away. "Would you go on a date with me tonight?"

"I thought this was a date?" Stiles asked.

"No, like dinner and talking in public and something that doesn't look like two friends meeting up and hanging out." 

"I see." Stiles liked what they did. They had spent a month battling it out with words, getting everything out. Derek's shame at being gay, even though he knew that there was nothing wrong with it. Stiles' anger at how he had been treated, which wasn't really Derek's fault but the world around them who looked down on Stiles. It wasn't the best in any world, but they were making it work. Stiles knew that Derek would want to step things up some at a point. It wasn't anything that Stiles thought he wasn't ready for. 

The thing was that Stiles wasn't ready. He wasn't ready for what was going to come of him. He would be the one talked about pulling Derek away from his soulmate, trapping him. No one seemed to have a good opinion of him. Stiles swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat. 

"Yes." 

"Great. Um...now?" Derek asked.

Stiles laughed and shook his head. He looked down at the suit he was wearing because he had been in court that morning. He looked at Derek, who was in jeans, a henley, and his leather jacket. "If our ages were reversed, they would call me your sugar daddy."

Derek blushed but actually looked at the difference in their clothes. He laughed and shook his head. "Do you want out of your suit?" 

"I would like that, yes. Maybe that diner on fifth?" Stiles asked.

"I walked here from the station. My car is in the shop. I was going to walk home."

"Well, then you'll have to come with me to my place. I drove today."

"Your Jeep?" Derek asked, a smile on his lips as he spoke.

"Yes, my Jeep. Don't even. Roscoe runs just fine."

"Now." 

Stiles reached out and shoved at Derek. Derek laughed and shoved him back, forgetting that Stiles wasn't built like him, and nearly shoved Stiles off the bench. Derek grabbed him and pulled him back, making the same mistake. Stiles was draped over Derek, his bony body parts in places on Derek that couldn't be comfortable. 

"Can I kiss you?" Derek asked.

"Yes." Stiles met him halfway. The fear would always be there, afraid that Derek would renege on what he said. He would wake up and think he was straight again. There would be fights and anger, but Stiles had known exactly why they were soulmates from the moment that he had stopped letting the fear rule him.

Derek kept the kiss soft and chaste. It was good. 

Stiles looked down at him with a smile on his face; seeing the matching one on Derek's face had Stiles' heart jump a little. Stiles got off of Derek; it was the most they had ever touched. It was weird. Stiles was used to his father's hugs, to Peter's touches on his shoulders, arms, and sometimes knee when he was anxious. Yet, there was no one else that touched him. Stiles had never thought that the term touch starved would be a thing for him. It seemed he was wrong, though.

"Are you okay?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, I am. I'm just...that little bit of contact between us is more than I've had in a long time. I am just a little overwhelmed. 

"I see. Well, we can touch or not touch as much as you want."

"I want more. Maybe when we get to the diner, we sit on the same side?" Stiles asked.

"That sounds great to me. I can eat left-handed."

Stiles nodded. He looked out to see that a few people were looking at them with disgust on their faces. Stiles had long ago stopped caring what other people thought of him. 

"Look at that, the Stilinski boy is seducing someone away from their soulmate," someone said loud enough that Stiles heard it, and so didn't Derek. 

Derek looked up at the woman who said it, and she looked shocked that someone had heard her.

"Actually, Ma'am. I asked him out the first time. I chose not to get to know my soulmate and would rather marry someone that I love for who they are, not that they are my soulmate."

"His soulmate rejected him; he's tainted."

"I rejected my soulmate, and you think that I would dislike him when his did the same?" Derek asked.

The woman huffed and walked away.

"It's gonna bite you in the ass," Stiles said.

"I don't care. Your father isn't going to fire me for anything short of me hurting you. I know that you said you never intended to tell him, but I want to."

"That's going to go over well. At least let's do that in public where he's less likely to shoot you." 

"Why don't we stop by his office on the way to the date? He's working late tonight."

Stiles nodded his head. He had never planned on telling his father a single thing. "So we are going to go with that? You rejected your soulmate for me?"

"It's well known that I rejected my soulmate years ago. No one knows why. Peter made sure that my entire family found out. They all disliked me for a while, but they have gotten over that. I think it would have been easier if Peter hadn't talked so much about the asshole who dumped you."

"We don't need to go into this again," Stiles said.

"True. So let's get you changed, and then we can see your father." 

Stiles only agreed because he knew that keeping it from his boss was upsetting Derek. He sat down in front of his father about an hour later with Derek standing behind him. Stiles wondered if Derek thought that using Stiles as a shield was a good idea.

"Son, if you are here to tell me that you are dating Stiles. I already know that," Noah said as he leaned back in his chair. He looked relaxed.

"No, Sir. I know that Stiles has already told you that."

"Ah, then we are dealing with the elephant in the room. Stiles' soulmate." 

Derek nodded. Stiles tipped his head back to watch him. Derek looked scared, more scared than the first time that they had met in person after the revelation of who Derek was to Stiles.

"Derek, sit down. You are vibrating more than Stiles used to before we found a dosage of his medication that worked for his ADHD." 

Once Derek was in the chair beside Stiles, Noah walked around to stand in front of them. 

"Peter's good at lying, but he's not good at checking his mouth sometimes when he's cooking. It's how I've gotten every single little thing out of that I want. I knew a few days after Stiles had found out who his soulmate was that he knew who he was. Peter had let a few things slip about why Stiles was on vacation when he wasn't scheduled. Then there was Miss Apple, who told me that a strange man started to leave letters on Stiles' doorstep. Always when he was home but they never talked. So once a pattern had been worked out, I went to her place and watched as you left a letter for him. I couldn't figure out why you two were keeping it a secret. So I went to Peter. I made him promise that he wouldn't tell you, and at least he's better at keeping my secrets than he is others. Which I guess is good."

"You know," Derek said.

"Yes, I know, and I trust that your reasoning behind what you did was a good one, or at least good enough that Stiles has forgiven you. He would figure out a way to make sure he was never convicted of killing you if it was anything less than the honest truth. I don't need to know what that is."

"Sir," Derek said. 

Stiles laughed and smiled at his father. Derek looked like his strings had been cut. Like he had no clue what to do now. Like he didn't understand what was going on. 

"See, told you that you had nothing to worry about. Your family is the meddlers, and thankfully I got them off of our asses."

"Oh, dear God, Stiles, what did you do?"

"They wanted to know more about what we were doing when we were just talking on the phone about twice a week. So I made them regret it by starting to talk about my sex life with my left and right hands when he forced Derek to let them listen in. I knew that they had as I know what his place sounds like when his phone is on speaker. Talia and Laura will not look me in the eye when I see them at the firm." 

"Well, I guess that's better than the time your teacher tried to get you to talk about your home life after nightmares started up after the home invasion. You had her thinking that I was running the mob as well as being Sheriff."

"I could see it," Derek said. 

"Yes, well. She actually got the FBI involved, and it was all because she thought that I was hurting Stiles, and Stiles was covering for it. She was fired, by the way, and will never teach again." 

Derek nodded and looked a lot less like he was afraid of being killed. 

"Stiles can take care of himself, Derek. I've spent the last five months watching you, yes. You've talked about your dates with a happy tone. You never say anything that tells me you are using him. You looked practically in love by the third month. So yes, you have my blessing but know that you don't have to worry about me if you hurt him. Stiles will get his own revenge and might leave something for the rest of us to have a piece of."

"I'm well aware of that, Sir. Peter's told me horror stories of him in the courtroom. So yes, I am well aware."

"Good. Now I assume that you are heading out on a date?" Noah asked.

"Yes," Stiles said. He stood up and held out his hand to help Derek out of his chair.

"Then, I'll make sure that the guys are on the lookout for Roscoe."

"You are all heart, father of mine." Stiles tugged Derek with him, and when they made it into the bullpen, the other deputies who were sitting at the desks were all looking at them. Derek looked a little uncomfortable. Stiles wondered if he had never told them who he was dating.

It would be all over the station by the next day, Stiles was sure of it. Derek might take a little ribbing for it, but the guys who worked with his father never once said a bad thing about Stiles' soulmate not wanting him, at least not about Stiles. The few that had didn't work there anymore. 

Stiles had made his choice, getting to know Derek to see what the universe thought was such a good match between them. He was glad that he had. Derek wasn't who he was in college. Derek was better for it and willing to show himself wholly to Stiles. It was all that Stiles wanted from him. 

# The End

**Author's Note:**

> I write fanfiction for fun. It's a hobby and a stress relief. I refuse to stress over my writing. What you see is what you get. Errors, plot holes, and all. Thank you for reading my story! 
> 
> I can be found on MeWe [here](https://mewe.com/i/beccaqueen1), join me there and we can discuss my fics and whatnot.


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